Archive for month: November, 2014

Rugby Strength Coach: How To Get A Job in S&C

Keir Wenham-Flatt is the Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Pumas, and is back in the UK this December delivering 4 seminars on how to get a job in the highly competitive and crowded Strength & Conditioning industry.

Keir’s rise within the industry has meteoric from intern to international S&C coach in just 3 years, so get yourself to his seminars and find out how he did it!

Keir has also teamed up with Nick Grantham, who is running workshops with us in February, to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care and the UKSCA’s Richard Holme Memorial Fund. Every person that signs up will also get a FREE copy of Nick’s book “You’re Hired: An Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Strength & Conditioning Coach” because Keir is donating £10 for every booking to these two great causes.

http://www.proformance.pro/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Proformance-Logo.png00James Bakerhttp://www.proformance.pro/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Proformance-Logo.pngJames Baker2014-11-24 07:41:302014-11-24 20:29:32Rugby Strength Coach: How To Get A Job in S&C

#SandCinSchools Project

The opportunity…

5 years ago I started working with schools in Gloucestershire to build Gifted and Talented S&C programmes, bringing what I’d learnt through the UKSCA to everyday school children. In total, working with Ed Archer at the Athlete Academy, we established 7 such programmes in the area (some which are still running now) but the experience at times was frustrating as schools/parents weren’t able to sustain the level of funding to keep the programmes running. It made me realise there was a phenomenal opportunity to develop athletes that lay in the hands of the PE teachers, given the time they get with the kids and that they have a captive audience that is not dependent on funding to keep going.

However, then & even now the focus of most PE teachers is predominantly the development of sport specific skills. Yes they do some fitness work but not with the kind of systematic approach required to produce high level athletes time and time again. In many cases (but not all) it’s delivered as Health & Fitness Unit of Work (6-8 weeks) that covers using a fitness suite and some circuit training.

Having worked as an external coach for years, last year I landed myself in a teacher training position and qualified as a PE teacher earlier this year. Now fully employed as a teacher and S&C coach I understand the challenges faced by schools when trying to incorporate a long term development programme, but also understand how we can get S&C into the school system and the fantastic outcomes you can see for young athletes. (See our results so far in these articles – EPP 12 months on , EPP Speed Training)

The challenges…

PE teachers face a number of challenges in implementing a long term athlete development programme:

Time – having the time to plan, design and implement a system that is age appropriate around the workload of planning core PE lessons and teaching exam subjects, as well as all the fixtures in the extra-curricular programme is not easy!

Knowledge & skills – many teachers are fantastic teachers / coaches of different sports but lack the in depth knowledge & specific skills to develop high levels of strength, power, speed and agility that are crucial to success at the highest level in a way that is age appropriate.

Funding – paying an external coach to deliver a high level programme will be outside of the budget of most comprehensives/grammar schools, which pushes it on the parents & pupils and then your programme is as Long Term as they are prepared to pay for it.

Support – You need the support of the school, your head of department, your colleagues for a system to be built and sustained.

Facilities – Not every school is blessed with a fully kitted out S&C suite, but that doesn’t matter lifting weights is only one method of training, and there are plenty of things you can do with just some open space, some athletes and your imagination.

Just because these obstacles are there it doesn’t mean, it can’t be achieved!

Our project…

The #SandCinSchools project is aimed at providing teachers and coaches with online training resources they can refer to and apply within their school exposing more children in the UK to the benefits of strength and conditioning and a systematic long term approach to athlete development.

We have assembled a team of qualified S&C coaches from around the UK to generate videos, articles and resources that will be published through the Proformance Strength & Conditioning website that you will be able to access. You will get to see the methods we are already using with young athletes in a school environment on our Elite Performance Pathway programmes.

We will be covering a range of topics including how to integrate S&C into PE lessons when time & facilities are limited and maximising the effect of training through integrated training systems. How to monitor growth and maturation status, as well as looking at specific exercises to enhance flexibility, strength, speed, agility, co-ordination and power.

Our team of coaches are also available to book to deliver INSET & CPD workshops at your school if you want a programme tailored to your needs. In addition, we also have CPD workshops running in 2015 that will provide you with plenty of information to kick start your school in setting up a Long Term Athlete Development programme.

Look out for the #SandCinSchools hashtags, here are some video resources to get you started:

Drop Snatch for Deceleration

The Drop Snatch is an excellent tool to use as a progression to teach the Olympic Lifts as part of a bigger sequence. I tend to teach the Snatch using a top down approach going from Overhead Squat first to check they can get in to the correct position, then the Drop Snatch to get the speed under the bar and to be able to consistently hit the catch position. From there I teach the second pull (or Jump Shrug) and then I link it all up into the Snatch from Hip.

Another big reason for me including it in a programme is the fact that it is a great exercise to enhance an athletes ability to decelerate the whole body which is a vital component of optimising multi-directional speed and agility.

To further assist in developing the athlete’s ability to decelerate I also utilise a comination bilateral and unilateral altitude landings along with linear and lateral leaping and hopping progressions with a focus on sticking & holding landings. Before heading into specific deceleration and re-acceleration agility drills (utilising various stopping positions – e.g. forward/reverse lunge stop, lateral shuffle, universal athletic ready in static & dynamic forms)

Drop Snatch Technical points:

1) Feet hip width
2) Bar on the shoulders, hands in snatch grip position
3) Drop down into an overhead squat position, feet go from hip width to shoulder width & feet at 5 to 1 position
4) Lock out the arms above your head as you descend.
5) Bar should finish above the crown of the head, weight should be through your heels at the bottom.
6) Squat the bar back to standing, reset to the start position and repeat.

In this practical session Nick will focus on how to develop a strong and stable core through a combination of horizontal and vertical bridging and stabilisation exercises, rotational and anti-rotational core training exercises and ‘uninhibited’ strength and power exercise. Sorry – no crunches or ab-cradles allowed! This session will show you why traditional approaches are often ineffective and why a more athletic approach focusing on body control and activation will help boost performances and improve your clients athletic ability.

A limited number of spaces are available at the Early Bird Price of £75 or get the weekend bundle including the 0.5 day Speed Clinic for only £100.

Nick has written thousands of training programmes for professionals in sport and will share with you how to design the most effective programme for the athlete. This is programme design stripped back to the fundamentals. You will discover how to choose suitable periodisation models, manipulate every training variable (not just sets and reps) and how to select and sequence exercises to develop fully integrated training programmes.

A limited number of spaces are available at the Early Bird Price of £75 or get the weekend bundle including the 0.5 day Speed Clinic for only £100.

Today we are looking at what you can expect from each session during the Nick Grantham workshops in February

Session 3: Metabolic Conditioning – Modern Energy System Development

Get ready to shift your paradigm and embrace a more effective approach to metabolic conditioning. Discover why traditional periodisation may not be the most effective approach and how doing a complete 180 degree shift in thinking could boost performance.

Learn how to develop metabolic conditioning sessions using a variety of training modalities, including resistance training and HIIT training. Find out how to use density, pyramid and timed sets to maximise each training session and how to develop programmes to specifically target peripheral and central adaptations and deliver the results your clients are chasing.

A limited number of spaces are available at the Early Bird Price of £75 or get the weekend bundle including the 0.5 day Speed Clinic for only £100.

Today we are looking at what you can expect from each session during the Nick Grantham workshops in February

Nick Grantham Workshops – Session 1: The Art and Science of Coaching – The Power of Engagement

Do you know how to get the best out of your athletes and clients?
In this session Nick will share with you decision training strategies that are far superior to traditional behavioural models. You will learn about the evolution of coaching and how to use language more effectively to establish triggers and coaching cues that will elevate your clients’ performances during training. It’s not what you know that is important, it’s making sure your message gets through.

A limited number of spaces are available at the Early Bird Price of £75 or get the weekend bundle including the 0.5 day Speed Clinic for only £100.

Event Details

The Proformance Strength & Conditioning Network is proud to partner with Athletic Lab Sports Performance Training Center to present the third annual High Performance Athletic Development (HPAD) Conference. For the

Event Details

The Proformance Strength & Conditioning Network is proud to partner with Athletic Lab Sports Performance Training Center to present the third annual High Performance Athletic Development (HPAD) Conference. For the third year in a row, Athletic Lab & Proformance have assembled a world class speaker lineup.

The HPAD Conference will take place on May 26th & 27th 2018 in Cary, NC.

World Renowned Researchers and Coaches

The conference will have a mixture of applied sports science and practical ‘in-the-trenches’ coaching information from leading practitioners. This years lineup has assisted countless Olympic, professional and collegiate athletes.

The conference will be an unmissable event on the Strength & Conditioning calendar bringing together coaches from the US, Qatar and the UK to offer an unparalleled opportunity to learn, share and connect with some of the best practitioners from around the world.

Cancellation Policy

More than 30 days before the event = 10% fee to cover admin & transaction fees, 15-30 days before the event = 25% fee, 7-14 days before the event = 50% fee, within 7 days of the event = 100% fee – no refunds will be given.

Packages

We will have options to attend just the weekend’s lectures or you can also purchase our VIP package. The VIP package includes a 3 course dinner and drinks at an upscale casual restaurant with our speakers. Travel to and from the venue is included.